Recently in CRAFTS Category

I like to pop in a little gift card with anything I give.

While my tastes tends to run to pretty and elegant many of my friends have more avant garde taste and I make up these little note cards when I give items to them.

Easy to make, just take some interesting pages from National Geography and glue to card stock. I do use a paper cutter which makes the edges nice and square.

Terrariums are ideal for people who want some greenery around them but also want it to be as low maintenance as possible.

Back in style again they are being made in everything from retro 70's glass bottles, traditional style Victorian cases, to very modern blown glass containers. 

While terrariums are simple to make a Witch's Ball (called because they resemble a crystal ball) has a little secret in how they are made which I will be happy to share with you. 

Kids aside these would be great to hold a small gift for your sweetie  (that you can leave on a pillow or bedside table). 

You could hunt down the type of paper you are looking for at specialty paper supply stores but there is a very inexpensive option that will give you the candy box look that you are looking for.

Though I try not to buy any food in excess packaging some times it can't be avoided and through out the year I keep the light plastic containers that many bakery, fruit and vegetable come in.

I clean them out and use them for take out containers for my guest. But I also have my little trick of making them look fancy-shmancy.

This happy little container is made from a tissue box that had a modern bright pattern on it.

Many tissue boxes are made with a high grade board that is slightly waxed to resist soiling which makes it ideal for storage.

With a lid made from card stock no one would guess how it started it's life. 

Easy to make and useful you will find that you are eying how much tissue is left in the boxes in your home so you can make another one.

 I am happy to be linked to Sew Much Ado - We Did It Wednesday

They are very simple to make using an easy pattern and sewing technique. I fill mine with rice as it is cheap and easy for me to get but I have heard of other options that you can check on the web.

Make a basket full to have handy by the front door for the whole family or make a bunch (litter?) to use as stocking stuffers for Christmas or as easy inexpensive gifts.

I filled it with apples from the farmers market but latter I think I will fill it with dried flowers and leave it on the front hallway table to great visitors into the house.

You can make these any size that you want just by changing the length of the branches but smaller would be better.

Remember that this is only a decorative basket and will not withstand being lifted when it is full. It is best to carefully carry it from the bottom.

It is surprisingly easy to remove the spiral and add a front cover of your own choice. I chose to put a blue cover on my spiral notebook so it would match the rest of the blue items on my desk but the sky is the limit with your choices.

They have a heavenly scent and a frilly prettiness but their drawback is their short blooming time. A heat wave can burst the flower heads leaving their petals scattered through the garden and by July they are gone.

 But with two simple drying techniques you can enjoy the scent and beauty of these flowers for months on end. A potpourri of peony petals with a dried peony flower on top is a gracious way to enjoy these blooms past their singularly short season. If you have peony growing in your garden making a potpourri is an inexpensive, gentle and natural way of adding a pleasant scent to your home. It doesn't have the strong odor of commercial air fresheners but it also doesn't have any of the chemicals that they are made with either.